The bout was the fourth of six FUEL TV-broadcast main card contests and followed the evening’s Facebook streamed preliminary bouts.

As expected, Stephens was willing to stand and trade with his taller foe, but Cerrone dominated the early action by mixing in kicks and knees while using reach to his advantage. Stephens fired back with heavy overhands, but his face showed the wear of Cerrone’s efforts.

It was more of the same in the second, as Cerrone looked incredibly comfortable and used a stiff uppercut to wobble his foe. Doubling the volume of his opponent, Cerrone shucked and jived in front of Stephens while battering his face and legs. “Cowboy” mixed in a trip takedown to close the round, and it was obvious Stephens was going to need something special in the final round.

It didn’t come.

Adding a bit on injury to insult, Cerrone landed a brutal inadvertent kick to the cup, leaving Stephens wincing in obvious pain. Once he returned to the fight, Cerrone continued the domination with cutting low kicks and right hands that left Stephens’ eye a swollen mess. Stephens threw a flying-knee Hail Mary in the final seconds, but it wasn’t enough, as Cerrone cruised to the decision win.

“The goal of this fight was to fight my fight and not get dragged in to anyone else’s battle,” Cerrone said. “(Nate) Diaz did a really good job of sucking me into his battle. Dictating the pace and fighting my own fight was the plan so I executed pretty good.

“I’m a kicker. My hands are second and my kicks are first, so he said he was going to stop me and I made it a point to kick him.”

With the victory, Cerrone (18-4 MMA, 5-1 UFC) eases the pain of that December loss to Diaz. Stephens (20-8 MMA, 7-6 UFC) falls to 0-2 in his past two fights.

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